Judge sentences Jackson to jail, probation for receiving stolen property

By Neal Putnam

One of two young men who pleaded guilty to receiving stolen property following a Ramona burglary was sentenced Nov. 29 to 30 days in county jail.

The sheriff’s department said Garrett Paul Jackson, 18, of Ramona, will be released on Dec. 7. The sheriff’s department has discretion and can cut some sentences in half if inmates are placed on probation.

El Cajon Superior Court Judge John Thompson fined Jackson $1,264 and placed him on three years probation.

Jackson had been free on $50,000 bond, but was remanded to jail immediately after sentencing. He received credit for one day previously spent in jail on June 23 when he, Skylor Rocky McGee, 19, and two juveniles were arrested on burglary charges.

Sheriff’s deputies had been investigating 23 home invasion crimes in Ramona and apparently most of them were committed by two minors in the middle of the night while residents were sleeping. The cases of the two juveniles are confidential and their names are not public record.

At the Oct. 3 preliminary hearings of both Jackson and McGee, a judge dismissed a single burglary charge against both of them on the grounds that they didn’t enter the residences and only possessed the stolen items that were taken by juveniles.

McGee also pleaded guilty to receiving stolen property and he will be sentenced on Dec. 13. McGee is free on his own recognizance.

In Jackson’s guilty plea, he admitted to possessing some items that were taken from Tina Hayes’ home in a June 2 burglary in the middle of the night. She testified that her purse, wallet, cell phone, and other items were taken, but someone found her wallet and driver’s license and returned it to her.

Jackson is serving his sentence in the George Bailey Detention Facility, which is near the U.S./Mexico border.